Summary

Chapter 11 begins by entering into a different narrative. In 1946, a mother and father worry about their sick son and imagine a universe where he dies. The father believes that the baby knows what they are thinking and feels bad that he did not take him to the hospital because he wanted the son to live to be self-reliant.. He also thinks about leaving and starting a new life if the son dies. The chapter closes with the mother asking the father to take the son to the hospital.

Ted then drives to Brooklyn while listening to the Grateful Dead. The gentrification of New York annoys Ted due to his Communist beliefs. When he enters his fathers residence he notices the smell of dying. The two move Ted's bags to his childhood room while Ted thinks about what his younger self would think about...